The Disquiet, a short film directed by Ali Cherri, investigates Lebanon's history of earthquakes. It was screened recently in Toronto and Cherri has been invited to show it at a festival in the UAE later this year.
What is it about Lebanon's earthquakes that drew you to make this movie?
Actually, I wanted to work on something in relation to the Arab uprising. One of the questions was: how can you deal with a subject that is still happening and where we don't have enough critical distance to talk about it? My idea was to shift the subject from talking about the catastrophe or disaster we're living in to something scientific that we can have clear answers to. In Lebanon, we sit on two or three fault lines and very soon we could have a major earthquake and a tsunami. And it's an actual danger.
How is this a metaphor for the region's current political climate?
I'm just limiting myself to scientific research and not trying to speak in metaphors. I'm not putting any political reading on the subject, but at the same time, it's open to a lot of interpretation. In a way, it's hiding behind science in order to talk about a volatile situation.
There is a noticeable shift near the end of The Disquiet. Why?
There's something about the last scene where something sur-natural- supernatural - erupts in the forest. I'm looking at the fault lines in the forest, trying to register and walk on the traces of our imminent destruction. This, for me, constitutes [where] you go to the edge of our understanding of our language of the pre-catastrophe, and then I leave the camera behind and I walk inside this forest, which is somehow what happens after the catastrophe. The question is: after the catastrophe what takes place? What happens to language, to time, to space?
So what happens next?
That's what I'm working on right now. This film is the first part of a project and the second part is an exhibition in January.
* Neil Parmar
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What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
